Mel Greenberg had this nice article today about how the rookies can brighten the league's prospects.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like things got off to a very good start last night. A good crowd came out in Phoenix to get a first look at Diana, but neither Seattle nor Houston drew very well for their openers. The Comets had only about 7,000 in attendance, 2,000 fewer than last year's opener.

Sheryl Swoopes, perhaps disappointed about the poor performance on the court, had some sad words about the WNBA after the game.

"The first two or three years looked very promising," she said. "People were excited about the opportunity to see women's professional basketball. We felt it was something that was going to be around for a while. For whatever reason, it hasn't happened." Swoopes said she doesn't know what more could have been done.

The league probably should have found some way to have the opener on TV so that the country would actually know that the season is getting going. There has been a lot of publicity for Saturday's Sun-Mercury game, so much that some people (myself included) hardly realized that things were getting rolling a couple days before that.

I think the league should have found some way open with Saturday's game (or at least some nationally-televised game).

I'm hoping that things will pick up. Every team will do better when Diana comes to town. Tomorrow should be a good start.